Part 2 (1/2)
1/2 size of end of Fig 24
1/2 size section of Fig 24
A long piece of perforated wood described by Prof Flinders Petrie, _Kahun_, p 29, as a Weaver's Beath 968 cm 80 30 (3 ft 1-1/4 in 3-1/4 in 1-3/16 in) Fro 24, has been described as a ”weaver's bea rush mats like the ed about 27 to 40 inally, and worn into present shape by threads, etc, and look ular inside than they really are, as the inside surface of the holes is fairly se about 4 mm, on the face shown than on the other face Prof Flinders Petrie seeyptian mat is made
We now come to the two reeds in the Museuy, which Dr John Garstang discovered near Abu Kirkas, tomb No 693, of which he tells us: ”They are 27 and 29 inches (686 and 737 ceneral form They are constructed on a system of nineteen or twenty reeds to the inch, and they may be seen to be exactly sie of Abu Kirkas It is not possible, unfortunately, to assign a precise date to these objects
They were found in a tomb which contained no other remains; this tomb was surrounded by others, all of them likewise very eneral nature of the Middle E but Middle Eeneral, few toe, there is no reason to suppose that these objects are of any date later than the XII Dynasty (_The Burial Custoypt_, London, 1907, pp 134-136)”
The horizontal loo to this period, and the artists have not shown any reeds with them My studies of priyptian looms are of a date far anterior to the invention or the application of a reed It has also, I believe, been remarked by those who have exaular array of the warp threads is good proof that reeds could not have been in use I have already pointed out that in the evolution of the loom the reed puts in a late appearance, but apart from this fact, I do not think the artist would have omitted such an important tool had it been in use in his ti 25--Reed in Cairo Museuth 66 cm (26 in) It consists of tooden fra is wound round the fraether Then a kind of canvas(?) cover in placed over the fra ends of the wires, but this has disappeared in places]
Dr Garstang points out that although the surrounding tombs contained Middle Empire objects, the reeds were found in a tomb _without_ any other re to prove that they belonged to the period na statement that the reeds are _exactly_ similar to the modern reed, for that is almost sufficient to prove that they are _not_ 3900-3700 years old To me they seem comparatively modern and very sisch and Quibell are inclined to think is Coptic with this difference, that in Dr
Garstang's reeds the divisions appear to be of cane or wood, while in the Cairo reed they are of iron (?steel) The sketch of this Coptic reed, Fig 25, has been drawn specially for yptology in the Manchester University Museum, has kindly examined the sketch with the article and pronounced it correct We may, I think, safely conclude that the reed found by Dr Garstang is Coptic and not Ancient Egyptian
As regards the actual work of weaving, balls of thread have been found and so have very flat bobbins and pieces of stick with thread wound round which7
There is no reason why balls of thread should not have been used as they are in uncivilised countries at the present day, as, for instance, in Tibet, as reported by W W Rockhill in _Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Thibet_, Washi+ngton, 1894, p 41
”DIAGONAL WEAVING”
I aree with a recently huneh_, by Prof Flinders Petrie, E A
Wainwright and E Mackey, p 6, which runs: ”The fact of the weft not being at right angles to the warp, if one may conclude by the fabrics, does not, I think, i is of inferior quality
When I noticed the peculiarity first, I thought itover the body, but repeated examples of the same fact have led ous to 'darning' was the early weaving; and in our days it is not unusual to find stockings not darned at right angles, and it may be the women weavers of old sole In the childhood of weaving we should expect different ed cloth until very long after this tional weft to see if it would not reduce the tendency to fray out at the sides” The ale is stated to be about 20 The specimen shown me under the microscope indicated clearly that the warp and ere not at right angles and that the interstices were not square but diae the warp threads diagonally fro so as to get selvedges) the weft has the tendency to slip up on one side and down on the other, hence the weaving is made laborious With a separate weft for each pick, _ie_, for every once the shed is opened, there is naturally not this tendency, but this alleged diagonally woven cloth frays just as easily as any other piece of cloth without selvedge, so in either case there is not only no advantage but distinct disadvantage taking the diagonal ”beayptians credit for using the least laborious of two methods, that is _if_ the second one were known to the can be produced by anyone taking an ordinary piece of linen or cotton cloth, cutting off the selvedge and stretching the cloth in a direction diagonally to the direction of the warp and weft, and a piece of diagonally woven cloth is the result!
The probability is that the speci been stretched over the body for a long period of time, has, in the course of that time lost its nature and when reives us the ionally
”THE LINEN GIRDLE OF RAMESES III”
In the foregoing I have sho extre in use by the Ancient Egyptians, and one is rather surprised to be told that about BC 1200, in the tiyptians ”built and used looms very much more complicated than has hitherto been believed to be the case,” or to be referred to ”the really complicated form of loom used” Yet this is what Mr Thorold D Lee tells us (pp 84 and 86) in his paper on _The Linen Girdle of Ray of the Liverpool Institute of Archaeology_, July, 1912, V)
The characteristics of this girdle are its great length, 17 feet (5from 5 in (127 cm) in width to 1-7/8 in (48 cn and excellent workmanshi+p Perhaps the chief of these characteristics is the taper
It isthe warp threads have been gradually dropped out to make the taper, rather than that additional warp threads have been added As it is easy to drop a warp thread, and alress, Mr Lee's view is confirmed by this It would also be almost impossible to keep the warp taut if the number of warp threads were increased as the ent on This irdle was commenced at the wide end and finished at the narrow end
It is coe that when a warp thread drops out, its place is indicated by a thinness or fine opening for the whole length of thewarp, and this is so because the reed, besides pushi+ng the weft into position, also acts as a warp spacer, that is to say it keeps the warp threads properly apart, every one being properly aligned When no reed is used the warp threads are not so evenly placed--they are not so parallel to one another for there is nothing but their tautness to keep them in position Hence there is every reason to conclude that when, on a loom provided with a reed, warp threads have been removed their position must be indicated, and _vice versa_ if no reed has been used the position of the removed threads will not be so clearly indicated, but there will be a e in the width of the cloth as well as in the pattern, and this is what has taken place in the girdle giving us the di taper
[Illustration: ”THE LINEN GIRDLE OF RAMESES III”